Eggxactly as Planned
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: Ryouga Yamamura had never planned on being a Pokemon trainer. In fact, he wanted nothing to do with Pokemon, but it was kind of hard not to when imprinted on by a baby Pokemon.
1. Egg

**A/N:** Another crazy little idea. For some reason I have eggs on the brain. And drabble sequences – as if I don't have enough of those already.

* * *

**Eggxactly** **as Planned  
1. Egg**

Pokémon eggs had an unfortunately round body, which let them roll away from their mother without much preamble at all. If said egg is not around hatching time, it is even more unfortunate – because who can expect an egg to know when to not crash into a sharp rock or not stop in a ditch and get run over by a Ponyta pulling a cart? Naturally, when the mother saw, they ran after the egg straight away, sometimes catching said egg and bringing it safely back to the nest or hole or wherever they had made their little home. But some had the misfortune of being away at the time, and those eggs were often lost to them forever.

Sometimes the eggs were damaged, and not even a Nurse Joy could heal them. Other times they rolled safely into something soft and hatched away from home, being caught by a beginning trainer happy for the easy catch. Sometimes those catches are lucky for both parties, because the trainer turns out to be loving and caring and one couldn't ask for much better. At other times the Pokémon were less fortunate, because their trainer was more focused on power than wellbeing. Sometimes the Pokémon was even adopted by others in the wild and they made a new family. Sometimes they were picked up by someone for good or ill before even hatching.

But sometimes, just sometimes, fate sent the egg in another direction. For Ryouga Yamamura would never have picked up a Pokémon otherwise, if an egg hadn't chosen the moment it was rolling right past him to hatch into a black-smoke emitting Magby.


	2. Ryouga

**A/N:** Now time to introduce the human character after watching episode 11 of Pokemon XY. :D

* * *

**Eggxactly** **as Planned  
2. Ryouga**

Ryouga did not hate Pokemon; he simply had no interest in them – or connections as a whole. And it suited him well enough. He had no parents; they'd died when he was almost too young to remember. His grandparents provided him with a roof, and their housekeeper the food and such (since they were really too old to do the housekeeping duties themselves) and sometimes they told tales of their youth that made no sense at all, but that was it. The housekeeper was paid help: she did her job and left. And old grandparents weren't the best company. Not that it mattered; he didn't want companionship – because his grandparents were old and frail and they'd probably die on him soon too.

He got along okay with other kids, but he felt no kindred spirit with them. They wanted to chase Pidgey all day; Ryouga didn't see the point. He'd join in half-heartedly – until he learnt how to read, from which point on he'd sit in the shade and do something useful with his time.

Because Pokemon were everywhere, he'd read up on them first – and quickly realised all he really needed to know was how to defend himself against them in the wild. Because to do anything else would mean he'd have to connect with them, befriend them – and then worry when they got hurt, fear when they weren't around… He didn't need them. He didn't _want_ them either. He didn't need companions, friends, tools – whatever one wished to call them.

He decided he'd be a lawyer. It seemed like a good job; he'd be close enough to people, so no-one could call him a hermit, but he'd never have to connect with them. There had to be a barrier between lawyer and client after all. A win or a loss, and that was the end of the matter.

And that was fine. Not everyone in the world became a Pokemon trainer after all, or the world wouldn't run. But he hadn't counted on a Magby hatching from its egg right at his left foot – and a Magby spitting black smoke, which Ryouga was sure Magby did not usually do.


	3. Pokemon Centre

**A/N:** It's been more than a month and only two new Pokemon episodes? That's depressing.

* * *

**Eggxactly** **as Planned  
3. Pokemon Centre**

Even their little village had a reasonably sized Pokemon Centre, and that was Ryouga's first point of call.

He'd never cared to know much about Pokemon, but he thought that if others could consider them friends, companions and life partners, they couldn't be too different – aside from the obvious – to humans. Nurse Joy treated humans more often than Pokemon, something that spoke well for that assumption. So it wasn't unusual for pity to strike; a newly hatched Pokemon spewing black smoke couldn't be much different than an infant gasping for air.

Ryouga considered it a simple humanitarian act: picking the smoking child up (in a fistful of jacket after burning himself for not realising Magby's red body emitted actual _heat_) and taking it to Nurse Joy.

He'd hoped to rid himself of the encounter thereafter, but Nurse Joy kept him late, first for her Chaney to rub aloe Vera onto his blistered palms, and then to be brought up to speed on the Magby's condition.

Ryouga didn't want to know, and he finally said it – screamed it to the mercifully empty lobby and a shocked Nurse Joy. He felt unexplainably frustrated; he never went to his grandparents' check-ups. He didn't want to know about failing conditions or falsified hopes – not until it was over and done with and accepted – because it couldn't be changed. Death could never be changed.

Maybe he did care about his grandparents and could kid himself into believing he didn't, maybe he couldn't help it because they were still his family, but everyone and everything else were different – Magby was different – and he _didn't _care. Because if he cared just the slightest bit, he'd have a connection he didn't need or want.

He left in a fit of anger he couldn't really explain or justify.


End file.
